Mayonnaise mill



June 10, lgl W. A. MCLEAN MAYONNAISE MILL 2 Sheets-Sheet l Original Filed March '7, 1935 lum@ w? '319Mo w. A. MGLEAN 2,245,132

MAYONNAISE MILL original Filed Marsh fr, 1935 2 sheets-sheet 2 Patented June 10, 1941 UNITED STATES PATE verica MAYONNAISE MILL William A. MclLean, Geneva, N. Y., assigner to Geneva Processes, inc., Geneva, .N. Y., acer-f poration of New York Original application March 1935, Serial No. 9,863. Divided and this application June 9. 1937, 'Serial No. 147,369. Renewed May 15,

4 Claims.

Aready mix of water phase emulsions having a high percentage of oil without danger of breaking down the initial rough mix.

A further object oi the invention is to provide a device which will quickly accomplish the desired emulsiflcation Within a `short time and which will give a product which is smooth and uniform.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a mechanism which is simple and durable, easy to repair and replace, and which is readily adjustable to the Varying operating conditions necessitated in treating mixtures of differing characteristics.

I employ a stator and a rotor surface. rIhe surface of the stator is relatively adjustable with respect to the rotor. In the particular type of mill shown, the rotor surface is held fixed with respect to movement along its axis of rotation and the stator surface is adjusted to determine the clearance between the rotor and stator. The rotor surface is provided with projections which, in the present instance, we have shown as slotted blades and near the axis of rotation of the rotor there is located a spinner which tends to disperse the rough mix and to direct it towards the periphery of the spinning rotor. The emulsication is accomplished by reason of the rotating surface of the rotor, the projections comprising the slotted blades and the action of the spinner.

'I'he time of treatment is determined by the amount of clearance between the adjacent stator and rotor surfaces. With a wide clearance the time of treatment is somewhat small; with a close clearance the time of treatment may be larger. The amount of clearance desired is determined by thetype of material treated, desirable qualities of final emulsion and other factors.

In order to make my invention more clearly understood, I have shown in the accompanying drawings means for carrying the same into practical effect without limiting the improvements in their usefulv applications to the particular constructions, which, for the purpose of explanation, have been made the subject of illustration.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 represents an elevation partly in section showing the operating parts of one form of our mill;

Figure 2 `is a view taken along line 2--2 of Figure 1, looking inthe direction of the arrows;

Figure 3 is a sectional View, partly broken away, showing another form of our mill employing a different type of rotor;

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3 showing still another variation of the rotor and-blade construction as well as a different type of stator surface;

Figure 5 is a side elevation of a form of rotor employing slotted blades of less length than the other forms shown.

Referring to the drawings my emulsion mill comprises a base l which may rest on a casing 2 of an electric motor. The electric motor is provided With a shaft 3 which is coupled by means of a coupling (the details of which are not shown) to a rotor shaft 5. A

The base i of the mill is provided with upright members 6 which may be cast with the base, and which are adapted to support a structure comprising a central annular supporting member i and an annular upper stator supporting surface 9.

There may be formed integral with the base l and the supports 6 a sloping discharge surface 9 down which the finished emulsion is adapted to slide to a proper receptacle. The discharge surface 9 is encased in the support*l casting which is provided with an opening covered by front plate I0. The front plate l0 is held in place by means of projecting bolts Il which fit through apertures in the front plate I0 and which are suitably held in the side supports 6. Knurled holding nuts l2 which fit over the bolts Il and against the plate I0 permit the plate I0 to be readily removed so that the sloping discharge surface 9 of the mill can be cleaned and the other parts of the mill properly sterilized and cleaned. It is to be noted that there is an opening I3 provided below the cover plate I0 which permits ready egress of the treated emulsion.

On the support surface 8 is adapted to rest an annular member I4. The annular member I4 is provided with an outwardly sloping surface I5 upon which are adapted to contact the ends of centering screws I6. The holding screws I6 are adapted to fit into brackets I1 through which they pass. By adjusting the holding screws li which surround the annular member I4 the annular member I4 can be centered so as to provide a proper and uniform clearance between the stator and rotor surfaces. In the form of mill shown the clearance between th'e stator and rotor can be kept uniform by adjusting the stator,

the rotor remaining fixed. The annular member I4 is provided with an upper 'extending annular extension I8 which is screw threaded as indicated' at I8'. 'Ihere is provided a collar I9 which is interiorly screw threaded that fits over the screw threads I8' of the upwardly extending member I8. Handles 2| are provided for turning the collar I9 which will cause it to move up or down on the member I8 depending upon the direction of rotation given the collar through the handle 2I.

Fitting down within the upwardly extending member I8 is a stator casting 22 which is provided with a water jacket spacev 23 and an annular flange 24. The annular flange 24 rests on the collar I9 and the holding stator may be raised assembly will be maintained in the desired position.

There is a central aperture 21 provided in the stator casting. The aperture 21 is screw threaded as indicated at 28 and into this screw threaded portion 28 is adapted to t screw threaded neck 29 of ,a feeding funnel 3I through which the mix may be poured. Suitable means for passing cooling or heating fluid through water jacketed space 23 of the stator casting can be provided. Likewise, the discharge surface 9 of the mill is adapted to be water jacketed as indicated by Water jacketed apertures 32 which are shown in the drawings. Suitable means for circulating either cooling or heating fluid through these apertures 32 may be provided. Such are not shown in the drawings.

The rotor shaft 5 is journalled in a journal supporting structure 33, the details of which are not shown. This journal supporting structure 33 passes through aperture 34 in a supporting web 35 of the member 1. The upper end of the rotor shaft 5 is journalld in a supporting, structure 36 which f'lts within the upper part of the member 1. The details of this journal assembly are not given as such details have been previously described in other copending applications. i

At the upper end of the rotor shaft 5 is found a frusto conical rotor`31 Which`may be screw threaded to the shaft or otherwise-suitably supported. Coaxial with this rotor shaft and on the spinner comprising an upstanding member 39 having propeller blades 4I. This spinner is suitably mounted on the upper surface of the rotor. Likewise in the upper fiat surface of the rotor are located radially positioned notched blades 42. These blades, in the form shown in Figure 1, extend from a position near the axis of rotation of the rotor to the upper inner edge of the frustoconical section of the rotor. y

'I'here is provided a relatively small clearance between the lower edge of the frusto-conical surface of the rotor and the sloped surface of the stator.

This clearance can be adjusted to meet desired conditions. The adjustment acts as. a valve to retain the material a suilicient length of time to accomplish the desired purpose.- Moreover, the

material inpassin'g through this final critical clearance is. smoothed out and a more finely divided dispersion of the particles is obtained than is obtained in. the working chamber alone provided by the head. This is of particular advantage, for instance in making mixes such as mayonnaise where the final critical clearance serves to smooth out any undisintegrated pieces of egg yolk, and vin some cases, gives a more finely divided dispersion of the particles than is obtained in the head alone. The gradually approachingsloping walls between the rotor and the stator help also, to hold back the emulsion as it is forced through by centrifugal force. This tends to make the final clearance less critical than it otherwise would be in the type of mill shown in Figure 1. This feature has been found under certain operating conditions to present important advantages. The emulsion is actually made in the mixing chamber or head of the machine by the whirling action of the rotor and the stirring action of the spinner and slotted blades. The sloped Walls of the stator and rotor and the final critical clearance above referred to determine the length of time the mix is so subjected to treatment.

In certain types of emulsions, such as, for instance, in mayonnaise, it is found that the treatment must conform to a well defined process. It is to `be understood that vin Aother types of material which may be treated the process can be varied. Where mayonnaise is fed to the mill the mixing is accomplished by preparing a mix of eggs, vinegar and seasoning together with a beater; to this mixture is slowly added the required amount of oil while the beating is continued..

'I'he thus finished premix is a more or less rough emulson infthe water phase. This mix is then passedI through the mill4 which completes the emulsion.

In the case of mayonnaise, however, if the premix is fed to the mill while it is in motion, asv soon as the rough emulsion hits the spinner it is immediately broken down. We have found that the mill must be approximately filled with pre--` mix before the rotor is started in motion, and that the rough emulsion premix must not be allowed t'o initially contact the spinner when it is at upper surface 38 of the rotor is located a the rotor surface with the materials before startmoving athigh speed within the chamber com- `prising the working head of the machine. If, on

thev other hand, the mill is filled with premix before the rotor is started in motion, the emulsion can be satisfactorily completed. However, if the premix is fed into the machine before the rotor has started and the working head is full of premix, and then the rotor is started, quantities ofthe premix may be indefinitely fed into the working head while the rotor is rotating and the process can be conducted as a continuous process, with satisfactory results.

When other emulsions than mayonnaise are made, .the materials to be mixed may be usually put on the rotor surface while it is rotating at a high rate of speed and it is not necessary to cover ing the rotor. j

In normal operation, the spinner blades and rotor may approximate 3600 revolutions per minute.

The size and length of the slotted blades determine to a large extent the output. The smaller the blade, the smaller the output. A short blade causes a reduced output and a long blade an increased output.

I haveshown several types of rotor and stator arrangements which are comprised within the spirit of my invention.

In Figure 3, I have shown a rotor and statorin which the rotor has a at upper surface but is provided with an annular surface 50 which is substantially at right angles to the flat upper surface 38. Here the clearance between the stator and rotor surfaces which acts as a valve to determine the time of premix is that which occurs between the upper surface of the annular member 50 and the flat surface 38.

In Figure 4 I have shown a form of mill in which there is a stator surface 5l which is round-v ed and downwardly sloped. The rotor is provided with the usual flat upper surface 38 and a rounded downwardly sloping surface 52. clearance between the stator an'd rotor surfaces occurs at the outer edge of the rounded sloping rotor surface 52. In this form of mill there are provided notched blades 53 which extend at their outer edge 54 approximately to the outer 'edge of.

the rounded sloped surface 52.

In Figure 5 I have shown aform of stator which is approximately the same'as that illustrated in Figure l, but there is also shown lateral notched blades 55 oi greatly reduced leng-th. In-

this form, the outer edge of the blades 55 is relatively remote from the upper edge of the frustoconical section 31 of the rotor.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the Here the precise details of construction herein set forth,v

by way of illustration, as it is apparent that many changes and variations may be made therein, by those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit of the invention, or exceeding the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

l. In a mechanism for forming an emulsion such as mayonnaise, a stator member including a frusto-conical recessed portion, a frusto-conical rotor disposed in said recessed portion in spaced relation therefrom,` a spinner having blades inclined from the horizontal centrally mounted on and. rotating with said rotor, a series of radially aligned vertical teeth of varying heights mounted on said rotor and having openings theebetween of varying area throughout the radial length thereof," said series of teeth extending outwardly from said spinner and being in substantially the same horizontal plane therewith. means to selectively adjust the distance between said rotor and stator, and motor driven means to rotate said rotor and spinner.

2. In a mechanism for` forming an emulsion such as mayonnaise, a stator member including a frusto-conical recessed portion, a frusto-conical rotor disposed in said recessed portion in spaced relation therefrom, a spinner having blades inclined from the horizontal centrally mounted on and rotating with said rotor, two series of diametrically opposed radially aligned vertical teeth of varying heights mounted on said rotor, said -teeth having openings therebetween of varying area throughout the radial length thereof, each of said series of teeth extending outwardly from said spinner and being in substantially the same horizontal plane therewith, means to selectively `adjust the distance between said rotor and stator,

and motor driven means to rotate said rotor and spinner.

3. In a mechanism for forming an emulsion such as mayonnaise, a stator member including a frusto-conical recessed portion, a frusto-conical rotor disposed in said recessed portion in spaced relation therefrom, a spinner having bladesinclined from the horizontal centrally mounted on and rotating with said rotor, two series of diametrically opposed radially aligned vertical teeth of varying heights mounted on said rotor, said teeth having openings therebetween of varying area through out the radial length thereof, each of said series of teeth extending outwardly from said spinner and being in substantially the same horizontal plane therewith, said teeth progressively decreasing in height outwardly from said spinner, means to selectively adjust the distance between said rotor and stator, and motor driven means to rotate said rotor and spinner.

4. In a mechanism for forming an emulsion such as mayonnaise and having a recessed stator member, a rotor disposed in said recessed stator in spaced relation therefrom, means to adjust the distance between said rotor and stator, and motor driven means to rotate said rotor; a spinner having blades inclined from the horizontal centrally mounted on and rotating with said rotor, a series of radially aligned vertical teeth of varying heights mounted on said rotor and having openings therebetween of varying area throughout the radial length thereof, and said series of teeth extending outwardly from said spinner and being in substantially the same horizontal plane therewith.

WILLIAM A. McLEAN. 

